Guinness Stout is regarded as
Ireland's national drink and has been brewed in Dublin since
1759.

The key
ingredients are roasted malted barley, hops, yeast and water.
Guinness is black because some malted barley is roasted in a similar way to coffee beans.

The news in May 2004 that Irish publicans planned to increase the
price of the pint of stout and other beers by 15 cent prompted us to
produce our new index. It's a little different to the Economist's
Big Mac Index and its new Latte Index. However, it helps to answer a common question when
tipplers pine for the days when the pint was much cheaper. How many
pints would the average person have been able to buy in the old day's
with their wage packet?

Our average weekly wage is gross-
before deduction of taxes. Since 1976, there hasn't been
a very big variation in the number of pints which the
manufacturing worker could buy with a gross wage.

We are indebted to the Central
Statistics Office for the earnings data since 1960 and
the prices data since 1983. We have found the prices
prior to 1983 from Dáil Éireann (lower House of the
Irish Parliament) debates.

The price of the pint is the national average price in August of each
year from 1983. Dublin prices are higher than the national average.

The price of the pint was
less than 4 cent in 1947.

Year

Mfg Industry
Avg Weekly Wage Euros

Pint

Euros

Ratio

1969

19.63

0.20

100

1973

38.30

0.24

159

1976

67.65

0.48

140

1979

104.91

0.70

150

1983

182.42

1.37

133

1984

204.65

1.48

138

1985

220.96

1.52

145

1986

237.44

1.64

144

1987

249.56

1.73

145

1988

261.39

1.80

145

1989

271.91

1.87

145

1990

282.39

1.93

146

1991

294.77

2.02

146

1992

306.63

2.15

143

1993

323.10

2.24

144

1994

332.54

2.34

142

1995

339.92

2.42

140

1996

348.38

2.50

140

1997

360.01

2.52

143

1998

374.83

2.65

142

1999

396.54

2.74

145

2000

423.24

2.88

147

2001

456.97

3.01

152

2002

483.05

3.24

149

2003

511.78

3.41

150

2004

534.95

3.54

151

2005

557.95

3.63

154

2006

597.66

3.74

160

2007

600.24

3.80

158

2008

607.94

3.98

153

2009

595.45

4.01

148

2013

619.37

4.00

155

In 2013, the CSO has a broader range of
weekly earners
in industry than manufacturing (see Table A2); the average price of the pint comes from
here (Page 279).